Opening remarks

by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the
Informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers Working luncheon with Mediterranean dialogue Defence Ministers

A warm welcome to the Ministers of Allied and Mediterranean Dialogue Countries. A warm word of thanks to the Spanish Government an to Jose Alonso, the Minister of Defence of Spain for organising this meeting in such an exquisite setting.

This is the second meeting between us. Alliance and MD partners are increasingly holding extensive contacts from Ministerial and Chief of Staff level to expert level and gatherings such as today’s are becoming regular feature of our consultations.

At the same time, we are of course not forgetting of increasing our practical cooperation, from contribution by MD countries to NATO’s maritime anti-terrorist operation Active Endeavour, to specific activities in the fields of interoperability and modernisation of the armed forces.

All this is an indication of our evolving partnership.

And there are good reasons for this evolution. NATO and the MD countries face many of the same challenges to their security. Terrorism, failed states, and weapons of mass destruction proliferation are issues we all have to deal with.

NATO and MD countries also share a strong, common interest in strengthening their dialogue, despite from time to time complex regional contexts.

NATO’s Istanbul Summit in 2004 gave a major momentum to our relationship. This was the reflection of a common desire to develop our relationship towards a genuine partnership, and broaden our areas of practical cooperation.

Chers amis au Sommet de Riga, en novembre dernier, les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement ont souligné l’importance qu’ils attachent à ce que le potentiel politique et pratique de nos partenariats soit développé au maximum.

Leurs décisions se traduiront par un accès encore élargi des pays du Dialogue Méditerranéen à des outils et programmes de partenariat.

Au sommet de Riga a aussi été lancée une Initiative OTAN de coopération en matière de formation, à l’intention des pays de la région du Moyen-Orient élargi. Comme tous nos programmes, cette initiative repose sur le principe fondamental de la coapppropriation.

Nous nous réjouissons à la perspective de développer ce projet avec nos partenaires du DM et de l’Initiative de coopération d’Istanbul.

Je suis donc, chers coll è gues, chers amis, convaincu que nous mettrons à profit la réunion d’aujourd’hui pour examiner ensemble comment développer encore notre dialogue et notre coopération pratique sur les questions liées à la défense et à la sécurité.